Trois Lune X 8

Our little unofficial dinner club met last night at the Maison Blanch du France (French White House), this time there were a total of 8 of us. I had baked two loaves of bread in a long oval loaf shape for Bruchetta...sliced and toasted thin (1 cm - 3/8") rubbed with a garlic clove. For the picnic the day before when we were brocanting (new word) we made a mild roasted red pepper pesto/sauce and a green one that used what must be France's very own hot (picante) pepper. It was long (15cm/6") and green and looked for all the world like the Fresno Chile that we get in California. I had roasted them and pureed them as-is (skins blackened and left on) along with garlic and olive oil, salt and pepper. It was delicious and spicy hot to the taste but not overly so (6/10). That was the First. Then came a green salad with nut oil and our own red vinegar from Liz's vinegar mother she gave us last year. Then came the entree, a braised pork roast with ultra-carmelized shallots, mushrooms and new potatoes I sauted in butter and olive oil. It was delicious and disppeared in short order as I really screwed up...I needed about 8 oz (250 grams) of pork roast for each person...8 X 250 = 2 kilos...before cooking, as a result I took no pork as the chef-in-shame for this rather stupid mistake. I got a small sliver and was impressed with it's tenderness and flavor but it was but a tiny amount. I stand embarrassed that I did not feed the group properly. Next time! We skipped the cheese course this time and went directly to the dessert course. Kelly had made two chocolate desserts, one a mix of Fromage Blanc and Dark Chocolate and the other a melding of Chocolate with Ricotta Cheese. Both were delicious, one somewhat sour and the other lightly sweet. Nice. Then I broke open the booze cabinet and brought out the wide variety of alcoholic desserts from our local folks. All wonderful in their own way it was a treat for all. Then they left amidst the kisses and hugs and handshakes. Kelly and I cleaned up, then quickly read our emails and then collapsed into a deep sleep.

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Today I worked on the new leak in the salle du bain...shower room, it appeared a few days ago as a stain in the ceiling of the sitting room underneigth the shower room. Kelly investigated and found the dripper under the sink. I decided to try to do a quick fix - just heat the joint with the soldering torch and hope for the best. I used peices of sheet metal to protect the wall and went to it. I had fire, I had smoke fut apparently not enough heat on the leaky pipes to have the solder joint liquify again and make itself leak free again. So overnight I thought it through and decided to use compression joints instead. Of course the hardware store in Lignieres is closed for the vacation seasion already so I raced across the landscape to the BricoMarche in St. Amand to get the needed joints as I had none the right diameter. Back, I cut and assembled the repair sections andfought the damned pipes for nearly 4 hours before finally reaching the point of turning the water to the house back on. It was nearly leak free! After and hour or so I revisited the joints and checked them for the inevitable leaks I knew would happen after the pressure has risen in all the pipes. Sure enough and I applied a wrench to ewch joint and hope-upon-hope think that maybe there's a chance they are now leak free.
Maybe.